It's difficult to anticipate the beginning of the NHL season, and not imagine what could have been.

This was the year the Winter Classic was finally going to be in this town. It was supposed to be the biggest and best yet of what has become hockey's marquee event.

It was going to be this massive celebration in aptly named "Hockeytown." The Toronto Maple Leafs were going to play the Red Wings before more than 1000,000 at Michigan Stadium. Imagine the traffic jam on "the 401" and at the tunnel, eh?

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Comerica Park was going to be turned into hockey paradise with games continuously at all levels.

It would have been the ultimate celebration of hockey in Michigan.

So we must wait until next year. It's not OK, but at least it is going to happen.

Month after month passed - and there was no hockey. Then all of a sudden, at the last instant, here it comes - a six-day training camp, and a 48-game schedule that will compacted into a unnatural rotation for a sport so rugged. There will only be games within each conference.

The Red Wings main rivalries are not with the teams in their conference, which is a source of bewilderment for their fans, even during a normal season. The Red Wings not only will not play the Maple Leafs, but the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins or the New York Rangers. This is a border town. As such, the crest on the sweater means so much, and the Leafs and Canadiens are the Red Wings primary rivals. It's just the way it is. Even Gary Bettman can't change that, as hard as he evidently tries.

Hockey tradition is passed down from old-to-young unlike any other sport in this state. It's been 45 years since the NHL doubled in size and The Original Six went the way of leaded gasoline, black and white televisions and Brownie cameras. However, the lure of The Original Six is ageless and timeless. It's especially true right now. Two seasons ago, Boston won the Stanley Cup. This season, the Rangers are considered by many to be Stanley Cup favorites because they now feature Rick Nash, who, finally, has escaped from Columbus.

Unfortunately, Red Wing' fans are not as fortunate. They can't escape the Bluejackets. Or the St. Louis Blues (oh, the Blues are good team, but they play dreadfully boring hockey, don't they?). Or Nashville (that there is an NHL teams in that town and not Quebec City is blasphemy). The Red Wings don't play Pittsburgh this season, either, and that has been an excellent rivalry with every encounter being extraordinarily intense since the Red Wings and the Penguins met in back-to-back Stanley Cup finals in 2008 and 2009.

Well, at least the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Red Wings' division to provide some level of scheduling sanity.

If it sounds like I am complaining, I am. The labor stoppage was indefensible, reprehensible and irresponsible. Count me among those who don't accept Bettman's pathetic public apology. Also, I sincerely wish players association head Donald Fehr retires before he gets his hands on another sport to try to ruin.

I am very much looking forward to the start of the NHL season this weekend, though. I can't wait to attend the Red Wings home opener Tuesday night. Yet, I find myself feeling guilty for it because I was truly incensed by the most unnecessary labor stoppage in sports history.

Despite it all, the season will get exciting. Will the Red Wings make the playoffs again? I believe they will. If they advance a couple rounds, the lockout will be put into the rear view mirror completely. If they don't, it will be part of a story line that could hurt hockey in this town for years to come.

The season has been compromised. Time will tell for how long in Hockeytown.